With early success interrupted, Vargas resumes winning ways

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Jorge Vargas Jr. felt he was just starting to get rolling in New York last winter when the pandemic hit. From Feb. 17 through March 14, Vargas won nine races, including three stakes, before racing came to a halt.

“It was a shame,” Vargas said Sunday at Aqueduct. “End of February, March I started getting into a rhythm, won some very good races. Unfortunately, COVID happened. But everything happens for a reason. We’re here now.”

Vargas, who typically rides in Maryland – where in 2018 he led all riders on that circuit in wins – and New Jersey, has been back in New York since the fall. After quiet fall meets at Belmont and Aqueduct and a slow start to the winter stand, Vargas is beginning to heat up. Since the calendar flipped to 2021, Vargas has won 7 races from 30 mounts at Aqueduct. Overall, he ranks seventh in the rider standings with 8 wins from 66 mounts.

“Opportunities change up a little bit,” Vargas said. “Everyone left and we’ve been getting some better mounts and taking advantage of it.”

One of those mounts was Pete’s Play Call, whom Vargas rode to victory in the $100,000 Gravesend Stakes on Jan. 2. At the 2019-20 Aqueduct winter meet, Vargas won five stakes, including the $518,000 Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Series on A Freud of Mama and the $200,000 Busher Invitational on Water White, a filly who is on the comeback trail.

Vargas’s eight wins at this winter meet have come for seven different trainers. Two, including Pete’s Play Call and Sunday’s second-race winner Bad Guy, came for Rudy Rodriguez, the leading trainer at the meet with 11 victories.

“He’s a rider that is young and learning,” Rodriguez said. “He’s very aggressive and he’s hungry, and that’s what we’re looking for. He’s been riding great over here. He’s an up-andcoming jockey. He’s got to just keep working hard. If he keeps riding the way he’s been riding, we’re going to use him a lot.”

Vargas is named to ride in seven of Friday’s eight races, including twice for Rodriguez.

“Rudy last winter was big supporter of mine and I appreciate him a lot,” Vargas said.

Though Vargas rallied Bad Guy to victory from last, he has been successful here this winter by being aggressive. Vargas said he likes to get his horses involved early in the race if they have speed.

“I do like to be close to the pace – I can be aware of everything,” he said. “But I’ve been lucky coming from off the pace.”

Vargas said his recent run of success has him riding with more confidence.

“When you ride good horses and you’re competitive in a race, you do get confidence, you start trusting yourself a little bit,” he said. “When you’re on a bad horse there’s not that much that you can do.”

Had the pandemic not hit in 2020, Vargas said his plan would have been to continue riding in New York until Monmouth Park opened in May. Vargas, who is represented by Jimmy Riccio Jr. – also the agent for Jose Ortiz – said that is the plan he hopes to execute this year.

While things are going well for Vargas professionally, life is even better personally for the 26-year-old. Over the holidays, he announced his engagement to girlfriend Ashley Vega.

Friday-Monday race week

This week’s racing schedule has a tweak due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. While there will be no live racing Thursday, the four-day raceweek will remain intact with programs Friday through

Monday.

Three stakes, each worth $100,000, are scheduled over the weekend, with the Franklin Square for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies on Saturday, the Ladies Handicap for older females on Sunday, and the Interborough for older female sprinters on Monday.

Aqueduct will resume its regular Thursday-through Sunday schedule beginning Jan. 21.

Laobanona prayer will seek her third consecutive stakes victory when she heads a likely short field expected for Saturday’s Franklin Square at 6 1/2 furlongs. A winner of the Maid of the Mist at Belmont and the Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Series at Aqueduct, Labaonona prayer worked five furlongs in 1:02.24 at Parx last Saturday.

Others expected for the Franklin Square are A Life That’s Good, Rossa Veloce, and Vacay.

BARBARA D. LIVINGSTON Heading into this week, Jorge Vargas Jr. had won 7 of 30 races, including the Gravesend Stakes.